St. Bernadette Elementary School
Newsletter
November 25th, 2020
HIGHLIGHTS
• Wearing Masks in School
• Preparing for Unexpected Changes to Learning
• Lights of Hope
• Chalice Sale
• St. Bernadette Admissions 2021-2022
• SJPII Open House
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE
• Nov. 30th – Kindergarten Advent Assembly (video will be shared via YouTube)
• Dec. 10th – Christmas Concert (posted on our YouTube Channel at 6pm)
• Dec. 14th – 18th – Spirit Week (TBA)
• Dec. 18th – Early Dismissal (11:50 LG2 and LG4, 12pm LG1 and LG3)
• Dec. 18th – Reports go home
• Dec. 18th – Stingers club after school until 2:30pm. This is only for families who are registered for Stingers club and they must contact Sheila Vader prior to Dec. 18th to attend.
WEARING MASKS IN SCHOOL
St. Bernadette School has excellent compliance with mask wearing. With recent mask wearing orders coming to public spaces, questions were asked about if schools were going to make masks mandatory too. As of now, masks are still not mandatory. However, you will see calls from the BCTF and other educational groups asking parents to speak with their children about wearing masks in class.
There is significant credible research that speaks to the importance and effectiveness of wearing a mask. In addition, in the U.S., the director of the CDC stated that face masks are “the most important, powerful public health tool we have.” Face masks reduce the amount of droplets and aerosols in the air, reduce the viral load, and creates a “form of ‘variolation’ that would generate immunity and thereby slow the spread of the virus while we wait for a vaccine” as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.
We are asking students to treat masks as part of their uniform, to wear them in class, to take breaks from wearing them when they are outside or eating, and to ensure that they are wearing them properly (over the mouth and nose).
We continue to view masks as one layer of a multilayered approach to our health and safety plan. It is not a be all, end all method, in the same way that physical distancing, health checks and hand washing are each not effective on their own. However, as we learn more about the virus, its infection through droplets and aerosols, its contagion rate, the short and long term health effects, and other aspects, mask wearing is important and will continue to be effective.
Please continue to speak with your child(ten) about following the health and safety plans of the school, and if they share the fantastic work they are doing to keep themselves and others safe and healthy, please congratulate them on doing a great job in following the health and safety plans of the school.
PREPARING FOR UNEXPECTED CHANGES TO LEARNING
St. Bernadette School wants to ensure that we are all prepared for unexpected directives from Fraser Health or the Ministry of Education due to the changing public health landscape as a result of rising COVID-19 cases in our community. There are several scenarios that could impact in-class learning:
– Fraser Health ordering a student/teacher/staff to self isolate due to a school exposure
– Fraser Health ordering a class to self isolate due to a school exposure
– Fraser Health ordering a Learning Group (Cohort) to self-isolate due to a school exposure
– Fraser Health ordering our school to close due to an outbreak
– Ordering of us to close due to staff shortages
– The Provincial Health Officer ordering a shift to remote learning or hybrid learning
We are mindful that COVID-19’s prevalence is growing in our community exponentially and we have to be prepared to respond accordingly. This notice is written to provide you the assurance that we got this. We are on top of it. We are responding to it. We are well prepared for all the possible scenarios.
Since the beginning of November, the staff has been working on plans and preparations for a possible disruption to in-class learning. It is our intention to ensure that every student is prepared with the necessary skills and resources if a disruption would occur. You may notice that students are beginning to transport more resources back and forth from school each day. This is so we are prepared to move to another stage of learning if we are asked to suddenly pivot overnight. Teachers are also transporting more items back and forth from school each day so they too can pivot quickly and effectively.
St. Bernadette students are in good hands, we are well prepared and as always, are ready for all possible scenarios. We are on top of it and are working collaboratively to ensure that we will continue to provide a sound and meaningful education if we need to quickly move to another stage of learning. With your ongoing support and community buy-in, we can continue to do our best to keep everyone safe and healthy as we move closer to Christmas break.
LIGHTS OF HOPE
We are into the second week of our Lights of Hope campaign and we are currently at $600 in donations. Thank you to everyone who has donated thus far. This weekend, we will be decorating the courtyard for pre-recording of our Lights of Hope Celebration. Due to the Celebration being pre-recorded this year, we will need to project the final number of light bulbs earlier. The deadline for lightbulb purchases is Wednesday, December 9, and all donations received prior to this Friday morning (November 27) will be represented in our video of the Lights of Hope Celebration. Donations received after Friday will still have their lights put up, prayer intentions blessed by Father Paul, but they will not appear in the video. Therefore, we encourage you to submit your donations before Friday so we can have a more accurate projection of the number of light bulbs we need.
This year, we are doing things a little different to ensure everyone’s safety. Instead of each student getting prayer cards to sell, donations can be made through the parish’s online platform similar to our Walkathon. Christmas light bulbs can be purchased for $5.00 each and represents your prayer intention. Students do not have to keep track of their sales as there is no minimum or maximum for how much you are to sell. Tax receipts will not be provided for this fundraiser. Please ensure that your billing address matches that on your credit card or the payment will not go through. All we ask is that you please participate in this event to your best ability and support it in the best way you can.
Here are the steps:
1) To donate, go to: https://www.stbernadette.ca/donate
2) Select or type in the amount you’d like to donate
3) Select Designation: P93 School Lights of Hope
4) Type in your prayer intentions in the comment box
We are thankful for the donations that have come in thus far. This might be our last major fundraiser for the school year. All proceeds will go towards a last push to get the much needed Chromebooks in the hands of our students. We are very close to our goal and we hope to reach it through this fundraiser.
Thank you again for all your support in this meaningful and blessed event.
CHALICE SALE
Grade 6 students are once again sponsoring the annual gently used Christmas sale from December 14 – 18. All items will be priced from $ .50 to $5.00. This is a great time for students to buy Christmas presents for family and friends.
All proceeds will benefit Chalice, a Catholic charitable organisation based in Nova Scotia with sites all over the world devoted to the health, education and well-being of children.
If you have gently used items that you would like to donate to this worthy cause, please send them in to Grade 6. Thank you.
If you have any questions, please e-mail Mrs Peck at grade6@stbernadette.ca
2021-2022 ADMISSIONS
Admission to our school are stagnate at the moment. Trying to advertise and reach new families is very difficult during this time. Currently we have 8 new families applying for kindergarten and we are hoping for another 11 more. Your support in a word of mouth campaign would be greatly appreciated as our usual venues for reaching new families is not possible this year. Having good numbers in our primary grades allows us to continue to be self-sustainable and affordable. Thank you for your support and help in letting families know about our school and how to apply.
SJPII OPEN HOUSE
St. John Paul II Academy is hosting its 4th Annual Open House on Dec. 2nd at 6:30 pm. This event will be conducted virtually via zoom and we ask all interested parents to register by Nov. 30th so we can provide you with the zoom link. The school is now accepting applications for Gr. 8, 9, 10, & 11 students for the 2021-22 school year interested in a quality Catholic Education provided in a safe, disciplined environment where our small student -teacher ratio provides all students to fulfill their God-given potential.
Please rsvp: skelly@sjp2academy.com to let us know you will be attending. We look forward to speaking with you.